1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a modular reflector element for a lighting device which is particularly well suited to the fields of photography, motion pictures, television, video and the entertainment industry as a whole.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The lighting appliances employed in these fields are usually one of the following types :
1. Rigid boxes formed by an assembly of sheets of metal or of molded or shaped plastic, the interior of the box being usually painted white.
2. Flexible boxes that can be dismantled, the box being formed by thin sheets of plastic or of textile fabric stretched over rigid or semi-rigid rods formed to the desired shape.
3. Semi-rigid light boxes that can be dismantled, the box being made of semi-rigid sheets of greater thickness, the rigidity of which is ensured by the geometrical structure after three-dimensional shaping.
4. Light boxes for viewing by transparency, of molded plastic or metal with a light-diffusing surface placed in front of an array of fluorescent lamps.
5. Suntanning appliances equipped with ultraviolet lamps each provided with a parabolic reflector or electicaly shaped placed within a casing having an open face.
These appliances are subject to a certain number of disadvantages and in particular:
the appliances of types 1 to 4 are not equipped with bright metallic optical reflectors and their lighting efficiency is consequently low;
no appliance is equipped with means for varying the angle of illumination since they are not provided with slots for supporting honeycomb spotlight grids;
no appliance is provided with means so designed as to insert in the light boxes removable accessories such as color filters, diffusers, grid spots or the like;
no appliance is provided with means for removably and pivotally fixing accessories such as light-absorbing or light-reflecting flaps around the front face of the appliance or for adding three-dimensional light-reflecting accessories which are intended to increase the light flux while reducing the angle of illumination;
all the appliances are manufactured with surfaces having predetermined dimensions for each type of box.
When boxes of different sizes are desired, it is therefore necessary to produce parts having different dimensions by making use of tools which also have different dimensions. This consequently results in increased tooling and inventory costs;
in the case of appliances of type 5, the assembly of a number of reflectors and mounting of the reflectors within the box by mechanical means are complex, time-consuming and costly operations;
in the case of appliances of types 1 to 4, the ratio of thickness to the width of the boxes is very high.
Moreover, no provision is made in these appliances for:
fixing the appliances directly on horizontal or vertical metallic tubes such as those employed in movie and television studios for supporting light sources;
fixing the appliances in a removable and adjustable manner at their center of gravity on a pivoting and rotating support when they are placed on a stand, for example;
mounting the light box in a detachable and adjustable manner at the rear end thereof so that it can be held at a point which is close to its center of gravity;
permitting rotation of the light box about its rear axis of assembly in order to produce rotation of its front face, which is necessary when making use of a polarizing filter in order to control the angle of polarization;
holding a light-reflecting umbrella at its axis while passing it into the central zone of the light source;
coupling a number of light boxes in adjacent relation either stationarily or by causing the light boxes to pivot with respect to each other;
holding adjustable, articulated or flexible arms of small size for the purpose of carrying accessories such as filters or diffusers in front of the light box;
mounting lenses or an objective with a view to projecting images of anything that can be placed in the front section of the light box in order to project different types of light;
opening the top or the sides of the light box in order to permit insertion in the box of different accessories in slots designed for this purpose;
removably mounting on the front face of the light box and around said face additional accessories such as light-reflecting or absorbing flaps, lenses of different types, or a concave three-dimensional light-reflecting system for increasing the light intensity by concentrating it within a smaller angle;
mounting in different ways the reflector elements which are employed for each lamp:
in a fixed and parallel manner,
in a fixed manner, with the front faces of the reflectors at different angles,
in a pivotal manner in order to vary the angular relationships of the reflectors,
in either a concave or convex manner.
The object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of existing lighting appliances, to provide a solution to existing requirements and to permit simple construction of a lighting device by means of modular elements.